A Helping Hand
by sarahjean456
Summary: What happens when Chris gets a visit from an unlikely source? Set in the sixth season, more towards the middle of the season, before they knew who he was.
1. Chapter 1

Chris carefully tipped two teaspoons of newt eyes into the cauldron, listening carefully for the "soft hiss that should emit" from the bubbles. He nodded to himself and went back to adding the other, easier ingredients he needed for that particular potion.

With a sigh, he wiped his hands on his pants, mindful not to stain, and fetched the ladle from the table by the giant chest, which to his knowledge would soon be filled with past artwork and old quilts. His mother had started this when Wyatt was about four and suddenly became infatuated with painting with his fingers.

A sudden gust of wind made Chris wheel around, ready to strike. He stared, horrorstruck, at the portal that was opening before him. His first thought, though not quite irrational, was that Wyatt had found out where he was and that he had come to get him.

He didn't quite get to think his second thought because the time-traveling person stepped over the threshold and surveyed the room with a giant smile.

"It looks exactly the same, doesn't it?"

"What are you doing here?" Chris hissed, throwing down the ladle and walking over to the person standing in front of him. "What if you had been followed or seen? Honestly, where is you brain sometimes? Get back in that portal, right now, and-" The portal closed. Chris licked his lip and ran his finger threw his hair furiously. "Well, I hope you're happy now."

"Oh, come on, we can always make a new spell and get me back, Chris! I just wanted to see you. I missed you, you know that."

"He could have followed you! You could have ruined everything, don't you understand that?"

"Of course I understand that. That's why I fed him fake information about you going back to 1998-"

"You did what?" Chris screamed. "Great, now what happens if mom dies or Phoebe?"

"He isn't going to kill them! He obviously needs mom, Chris."

Chris surveyed his younger sister with anxiety and anger before lowering his eyes and shaking his head. He went back over to the potion which was now hissing furiously, warning that it should be taken off the fire.

"You need to go back, Lin," Chris snapped. "It isn't safe for either of us to be here right now and you know that!"

"I know," Melinda whined, stamping a foot and padding over to her brother, puppy eyes. "I can't stand the other place, though, can't you hurry?"

"I happen to have a lot on my plate right now, thank you very much," Chris snapped, glaring back over at her. Melinda raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow.

"What kind of problems?" she asked.

"Well," Chris said, almost sheepishly. "I kind of broke up mom and dad."

"You what?" she screamed.

"Calm down, I'm already freaking out enough as it is, I don't need you harping in my ear as well," he snapped, pouring some potion into the bottle. "Don't worry, I'll figure it out."

"And if you don't?" Melinda asked, folding her arms.

"Mom and dad don't conceive me, I don't go back in time and save Wyatt and the world and you also have a very good chance of just being obliterated," Chris said evenly.

"Awesome," she said sarcastically. "I thought you said you were going back to help mom and dad, not break them up and almost ruin my chance of conception!"

"And mine," Chris reminded her. She rolled her eyes.

"Oh, forget you, Chris!"

"Hey, if I'm never born, no one comes back to save the world!"

"I might."

"Yeah," Chris said with a snort, rolling his eyes. "I can just picture it now. I would feel amazingly safe knowing Wicken Barbie is our savior."

"Oh, you know what-" She began furiously, but broke off as footsteps started up the stairs. Chris wheeled around and looked at her in horror.

"You have to go," he warned. "Go right now. Quickly."

"No way," she said, rolling her eyes. "Why do you get to hang out with them? Please, Chris, let me stay! I want to see them! I miss mom…"

Chris felt his dissolve soften at that moment and he cursed her for playing the mom card when she knew it always worked.

"Fine," he snarled. "But you go invisible. And quick."

"Fine," she said carelessly and a moment later she was gone, or to the naked eye she was.

Just then Piper and Phoebe came up the stairs, Piper with Wyatt in her hands.

"Hey," Phoebe said, looking around the room suspiciously. "Is someone up here?"

"Erm, no," Chris said, shrugging and trying to keep a steady hand as he went back to the potion. He felt Phoebe and Piper look at each other.

"I could have sworn I heard two voices," Piper said carelessly, looking around again. She frowned at Chris and walked over to the pen, tipping Wyatt into it. "So, what's this about a new demon?"

"Yeah," Chris said, trying not to be distracted by Melinda who, he was able to see, was staring at Wyatt with delight. She looked over at Chris and smirked, while pointing down at Wyatt. He wanted, with all his might, to glare at her and warn her to quit it, but instead turned, with a blank expression, towards Phoebe and Piper. "Um, it's a Tracer Demon. It could possibly be working for the demon responsible for turning Wyatt-" Melinda was now walking around the room, making too much noise in his opinion.

"Are you alright?" Phoebe asked, looking first at Piper and then at Chris. "Because you don't look alright-What's wrong? You're nervous. I can feel it…and annoyed. Who are you annoyed with?"

Melinda raised an eyebrow and pointed at herself questioningly. He didn't answer but she smiled anyways, and silently promised to stop fooling around.

"Chris!" Piper exclaimed. "Are you with us today? I canceled my one and only date this month to come and be at this foolish little meeting you're holding and you're not even paying attention to us!"

"I'm sorry," Chris said, shaking his head and fixing his sole attention on Phoebe and Piper. Melinda picked up a picture of the family behind the two women's backs and looked at it carefully. She smiled to herself and placed the picture unevenly back onto the end table. It fell to the floor with a smash, making both Phoebe and Piper jump and wheel around, Piper's hands up in defense.

Melinda winced and shrugged apologetically at Chris while he glared furiously at her.

"Maybe we should get the broom," Piper suggested after a moment.

"No, I think we can-"

"I'll get the broom-"

"Son of a bitch!" Phoebe screamed. "You are going to ruin everything! Why can't you listen to me for once in your life?"

"I'm sorry, we'll pick up the pieces by hand-"

"No," Phoebe said, shaking her head. "It's not that. It's you." She pointed at Chris. "I felt some serious anger vibes a moment ago. What in the world has got you so pissed?"

"That…" Chris trailed off, looking over at Melinda who was pointed at the lamp and making "love" in sign language. "That was just my favorite lamp, is all." He said, trying not to roll his eyes. "And I asked you to be careful with it."

"Oh," Piper said skeptically, "I wasn't aware. I'm sorry. Maybe I can fix it…"

"Don't worry about it," Chris said. "So, this demon…"

Ten minutes later Phoebe and Piper left, demon-bound to meet Paige in an alley just south of Chinatown. As soon as he heard Phoebe drive away, he turned towards Melinda furiously.

"Are you happy? You almost got yourself caught! You're lucky Piper didn't get more suspicious than she usually does! You could have ruined everything I've been working towards."

"Oh, call her mom, you neurotic nerd."

"Shh," Chris hissed, walking over to the attic door and closing it. "Don't call her that out loud!"

"Chris, you haven't mastered telepathy yet, so we can't exactly talk in our heads." Melinda sighed and sat down hard on the couch.

"Are you still invisible?" he questioned suspiciously, waiting for the call from Phoebe.

"Yes, I'm still invisible," she mocked in a sarcastic tone. She rolled her eyes and looked over at the pen where Wyatt was still standing in his pen. "Do they always leave him with you?"

"Yeah," Chris said, "they trust me."

"Hmm," Melinda said, another smirk, not unlike Piper's, threatening to slide onto her mouth at that moment. "Funny. They trust you, Chris, to watch Wyatt."

Chris understood what she was getting at and glared at her. "Don't start that right now-"

"It's just funny," she said with a shrug. "They wouldn't even let you watch yourself until you were seventeen!"

"Same with you-"

"No," Melinda reminded him. "They trusted me, Chris. You not so much. I think I can safely say it was the orbing the Hawaii with Alexis Smith that really did mom in."

"I am never going to live that down," Chris groaned to himself.

"Nope," Melinda said with satisfaction.

A sudden white-blue light burst down from the ceiling, making Chris and Melinda look up in alarm. Chris gave her a fleeting, warning look and waited for the girls to come back.

"So?" he said, the moment the solidly appeared.

"Vanquished."

"And gooey," Paige said with disgust. She wiped a giant glob off of her shirt and tossed it over her back. It smacked Melinda into the face, nearly making Chris laughed. A lot of training over the years had trained Chris to not smile, he couldn't remember a time in six years he had actually truly smiled.

Apparently he had been staring into space because Paige leaned over towards Piper and whispered, "I see what you mean."

"Huh?" Chris asked, snapping out of it.

"Yeah, we're going to go. I need to get back to work and Wyatt has another play-date in an hour…Are you alright here by yourself?"

"Yeah," Chris said. "Things to do, demons to track."

"Right…" Paige said. "Well, I must be off. Richard and I are meeting for coffee."

"Richard?" Melinda said, after everyone had left again. "Richard? She's married to Henry! What about the twins? Chris-"  
"Don't worry, Lin, they break up!"

"Yeah, and soon?"

"Yes and soon! She doesn't even meet Henry for another two years or so."

"And what about Phoebe?"

"I think she'll-" He broke off, glaring at Melinda. "We need to get you home. Right now."

"No!" Melinda burst out. "Let me stay! Please?"

"No."

He walked over to the book and ripped out the spell, walking over to her and holding out his hand.

"Take my hand."

"Fine," she grumbled.

They chanted the spell together, but nothing happened.

"Oh, that's just wonderful!"

"Guess I'm staying, then, huh?"

A/N Please read and review.


	2. Chapter 2

Not mine, do not own anything I didn't make up.

* * *

Chris paced the room, throwing dirty looks at Melinda as he passed. After three minutes of this she grew bored of his actions and busied herself with wiping dust piles off of the trunks and tables surrounding them.

"You know who did this, don't you?" Chris barked at her, moments later.

"Yes," she replied easily, "Wyatt must know I left…"

"No, not quite where I was going," Chris said. "If he knew where you left or if you left he would have been here moments after your arrival."

"Stupid bastard," Melinda muttered to herself, shaking her head. She picked up the crystal used for scrying and turned back to Chris. "So do you know who it was that turned him evil? Any leads?AnythingI could help with?"

"No. No. And are you freaking kidding me?"

"What? I'm help! I could help!" Melinda protested, tossing her brother a glare. "I helped you get here, didn't I?"

"How have you come to that conclusion, though I'm afraid to ask?"

"I was the one who kept Wyatt out of the Manor," she replied. "He would never think perfect, _helpful _Melinda would do such as thing as to lie to him." She snorted, still bent over the map of San Francisco. Chris looked over at her and went back to staring at the book, willing it to give him some clues.

"I just wish I knew who it was!" he cried in frustration, moving the book across the room in anger. Melinda watched it soar across the room and then looked back at her older brother.

"Hey," she said comfortingly, "we're gonna figure this out. You and me. I can help you, you know I can do it, Christopher Perry Halliwell, I've done greater."

They were silent for a moment. Chris looked back up at Melinda who was glancing down at picture of their mother. "When did you realize that Wyatt was evil?"

Melinda glanced up at him, her eyes wide as though he had surprised her. She thought for a moment and shrugged. "I think I always knew," she said finally. "There was always something off about him; the way he looked at you, the way he looked at the book…his indifference towards us and his anger towards good magic. It was always there, we just never saw the real evil in him until…"

"The Event," Chris finished for her. She nodded silently.

"After that he just seemed to go from bad to worse. He wanted control of his magic back, almost immediately after the funeral. He didn't even cry…that's when I knew he wasn't there and that's when I knew he was going to do something bad, and that when he did, he'd have to be stopped. We'd have to stop him." Chris nodded. "I always thought we could just kill him or something."

"Oh, that's nice," Chris snapped. "Real sisterly."

Melinda rolled her eyes and sat down on the couch in a huff. "Do you think I could meet them? Maybe you could introduce me as your sister from the future, coming back to help you fight off Wyatt…Or in the very disgusting least a future girlfriend you couldn't live without." She made a face.

"I don't know if they'd believe me about anymore people from the future," Chris said. "Not after Bianca."

"Oh…that's right," Melinda said, frowning. "I made sure she…you know, got a proper burial."

"Thanks," Chris said, looking down at his hands. "Erm, what happened with Wyatt after that?"

"He was so angry…it would have been scary if I hadn't been so angry at him," she said, her voice lowering. "He tried to kill me, Chris. That's why I came here. He said he was going to kill me."

"He did what?" Chris bellowed, leaping back to his feet. His face was filled with a familiar rage Melinda had seen only three times.

"Don't worry, Chris, he wasn't serious, or at least I don't think he was." She shrugged. "It wouldn't be a Monday if it wasn't filled with death threats."

Chris sighed and sat back down. "Do you remember when we used to think he was kidding?"

"Yeah," Melinda said with a sigh. "Like, 'I'm going to kill you if you come into my room again.'"

"Now that I think about it I don't think that was a joke…" Chris said with a frown. Melinda also frowned and then shrugged.

"Oh, well. So about me being your sister-"

"I don't think so-"

"But-"

"Hey-"

"I thought-"

"Will you stop-"

"-and why-"

"-interrupting me!" Chris bellowed. Melinda was silent for a moment and pouted, crossing her arms and turning her head away from Chris. He sighed again and tried to appeal to her before she got angry and something exploded. "Lin, you look too much like mom."

Melinda turned back to him with a smile on her face and a sleeker shine to her eyes, as though tears were going to form because of his comment.

"You think?" she asked, stroking her hair.

"Yeah, except for the blue eyes, you're a dead ringer for mom," Chris said. "I just fear that they'll take one look at you and suddenly understand exactly what's up."

"So what if they do?"

"It'll distract them!"

"That's bull-"

"Chris!"

Chris and Melinda looked up at each other and then towards the attic door where footsteps were coming. Chris turned back to Melinda and glared at her, wide eyed.

"Do it," he said.

"No," she replied stubbornly.

"Melinda Prudence Warren Halliwell!"

"No!" she said louder. Outside the attic the footsteps grew, as did the voices.

"Please?" Chris pleaded.

"Fine," she growled, slowly dissolving from sight. And not a moment too soon because just seconds later Piper walked in, carrying two vials in her hand. She looked around the room and frowned.

"Were you talking to yourself again?" she asked, her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Um…yeah, it er, helps me think…" Chris said. He too scanned the room and felt a wave of anxiety when he realized Melinda had also dissolved from his sight, making him unable to see where she was. He couldn't stand when she did that, as she had a reputation that made you want her in your sites at all times.

"And what is the book doing on the floor?" Piper snapped, picking it up and placing it back on it's stand. She flipped through the pages in silence.

Chriswalked around the table and walked over to where she had been standing moments later.

"What're you doing?" Piper asked, looking up from the book. He had been walking around, arms outstretched as he searched for her.

"Stretching…" he replied, feeling himself begin to get angry at Melinda. She had a habit for doing this at the most inopportune moments, and would of course take advantage to his already mounting nervousness.

"You know," Piper said, closing the book over, "you're weird today…"

"I'm just excited," he lied. "I think I've got a lead."

"Another lead?" Piper asked sarcastically. Chris laughed sarcastically.

"Yes," he snapped, "another lead. And this one's good. I think I have good help this time from someone I didn't have before."

Melinda suddenly came into view near the window, beaming. He rolled his eyes at her and turned back to Piper, who had followed his eyes and was also looking at the window. For a wild moment Chris was sure he had seen her, she seemed stunned for a moment.

"What's the matter?" he asked quickly.

"Nothing," Piper said, sounding confused. "I just thought I saw…I thought I saw…"

"You thought you saw….?" Chris prompted. Piper seemed to snap out of her trance.

"I thought I saw Prue, is all," she said shaking her head. She suddenly seemed disorriented andshort tempered with him, and tried to pass her slip-up as ajoke."Must be sleep-deprivation or something. Alright, so just give me that name and I'll round up my sisters."

"I thought you had a date," Chris said.

"Me too," Piper muttered, snatching the name of the demon and the vanquishing potion from his hands and walking from the room; pausing to glance back at Chris suspiciously before walking from the room again. He breathed a sigh of relief and walked over to the attic landing to make sure she actually went all the way down. She did.

Chris whipped around and stalked over to Melinda, glaring at her as she became clearer, making herself seen for anyone who wanted to look.

"You made yourself visible, didn't you?" he barked.

"Maybe a little," she said, wincing at his apparent fury. "By accident."

"You need to make sure accidents don't happen, Melinda, because if you're seen everything I've been working on for three months is going to be ruined. Ruined, do you hear me?"

"Yes," she mumbled, "I hear you, Chris. There's no need to yell at me."

Chris suddenly felt guilty and remorseful. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Listen, I'm sorry, alright? I didn't mean to yell…I'm just stressed. I've got to get mom pregnant, Wyatt good and still find a way to kill that demon who turns him. And," he added, "I have to do all of this while keeping me identity secret and dodging Leo who won't lay off of me."

"Dad?" she asked quickly. "You've talked to dad?"

"I wouldn't call it talking, but-"

"What did you talk about?" she said, looking at him with wide eyes. He realized, maybe for the first time since this idea had popped into his a little over a year ago, that he had been unfairwith Melinda. She felt the same loss he did, knew the same fear he did, felt the same pain he did, yet he was the one to go back in time and be with their mother and father and aunts while she was back in the future with their murderous brother who made weekly death threats.

"What if I made a deal with you?" Chris asked, trying to distract her attention from Leo. Melinda had never really hated him as much as Chris did, still believing that above everything he was their father, no matter how much they denied him.

"Deal? I like deals. Especially when they allow me to stay in the future with the mother I lost six years ago."

"You stay, invisible…uh, bu, bu, don't interrupt," Chris warned as she made noise to protest. She closed her mouth with a snap. "And then, when I, meaning me and only me, see it's fit, I'll let you reveal yourself with another identity until I tell them the actual truth."

"That is the worst idea I've ever heard," she snapped.

"Well I can just tell them you're a demon and have them blast you back into the future."

"You're threatening me!" she cried, surprised. "I like it. I respond to it…" She looked at him and then nodded. "You've got yourself a deal."

"Good," Chris said, nodding to himself and going back to the potion.

"Although I could just walk downstairs and tell them who I actually am…" Melinda said, edging over to the door slightly, trying to make it as inconspicuous as possible.

"I would knock you down and send you back before you even got there."

"Who would they believe, though?"

"Most likely their whitelighter," Chris growled, glaring at her.

"But I know things no one but a Halliwell would know," Melinda said, walking even close to the door.

"Melinda…" Chris said in a warning tone. In the blink of an eye she had dashed from the room, making Chris rush after her, down the stairs just as they did as kids, only they were usually fleeing from Wyatt's presence or trying to get their side of the story to their mother first.

Chris managed to knock her into the wall, making her lose her balance, sending them both tripping down the last four steps and falling onto the floor with a great UMPH.

"Chris, is that you?" Phoebe called from the kitchen. "Are you alright?"

"Fine, you can be visible if you leave right now," he said, pleading with her.

"I knew I could get you to see it my way. I'll be in my room…well what will be my room," she said, orbing out from view. Phoebe came in from the dining room moments later, spotting him on the floor and rushing forward.

"Oh, my God, are you hurt?" she asked, concern written all over her face. "Wow! You're angry at someone. What's going on Chris?" She winced. "Now I'm feeling anxiety…worried…and fear. What's going on with you?"

"Nothing," Chris said, helping himself up and wiping off his jeans. "I'm really stressed about this new demon you guys are looking for."

Phoebe didn't believe him, his emotions were something too raw for demons, but she made her face passive and believing all the same.

"Oh, well, don't worry about that," she said, forcing a friendly smile. "We'll get that figured out." Chris wasn't looking at her but up at the ceiling. "Paige and I will be in the kitchen if you need anything."

"Yeah, alright," he said before orbing away. Phoebe stayed where she was, silent as possible and thought she heard faint voices from up above her, where her old room was. She frowned thoughtfully and went back into the kitchen where Paige was stirring something in a pot.

"Hey, demon?"

"No, just Chris," Phoebe said. "He fell down the stairs."

"How clumsy of him," Paige remarked, draining the tea leaves. "Did you get a read on his feelings like Piper said too?"

"Yeah, and something is definitely stressing him," she replied, looking back up at the ceiling.

"What?" Paige asked.

"I don't know," Phoebe replied, "but I'm going to find out."

A/N Please read and review.


	3. Chapter 3

"Ok, so what's the plan?" Paige asked, edging over to the stairs.

"Well," Phoebe said, thinking fast, as she didn't really have a plan, "I don't really have one. I figured I'd go up and just see what's going on. Then, maybe, he's either be so shocked he'd tell me, or I could figure it out for myself. Try to get a read off of him or something."

"Good idea," Paige said, nodding, "I'll be making the potion. I'm just an orb away if you need help." She gave one last look at the stairs and turned back, hair flipping out behind her, and went back into the kitchen, waiting for Phoebe's call.

Phoebe watched Paige walk back into the kitchen and then turned back to the stairs, watching and listening silently, not daring to breath. Once again she heard the creak of footsteps above her, in what was her old room. On closer inspection, she noticed that they seemed to be traveling in a circle, as though someone was pacing her room. The voices, one which she had already identified as Chris, were still talking softly; almost as though they were bickering like children.

"Here goes nothing," Phoebe muttered to herself, climbing the stairs and thanking everyone from God to the people who put in the carpet that it cushioned the noise her shoes would have made on hardwood floors. As she got to the top step and stepped onto the second floor she heard voices coming from her room and slowly walked down to the doorframe, careful to stay out of sight.

"…I don't know," Chris said furiously. "Can't you for once in your life just trust me to do what I'm going to do? I promise I'll do it right!"

"Why are you constantly yelling at me? I want the same things you want, Chris! I want to go back into a world where Wyatt isn't destroying it. There is no need to treat me as though I am a huge inconvenience!"

"Yes, there is," Chris barked. "Especially when you come from where you do and who you are!"

"So what?" the female voice cried. "Who am I?"

"You know very well, Melinda," Chris said, sounding angry. "If they know who you are, they'll want to know everything; it'll distract them from the task in front of them!"

"Chris telling them that I am a Halliwell from the future will only convince them to start now. Maybe if you just told them-"

"No!" Chris said before she could finish. "They don't need to know. I think they'd rather not know."

Phoebe nearly jumped out of her skin as she controlled herself. She so desperately wanted to look around the corner to see whom Chris was talking to. Could it be one of their daughters from the future? Possibly Piper and Leo's? Maybe Paige's? Or, could it be her own daughter she was hearing now? And what about Chris would they rather not know? Her curiosity was becoming painful and she had to fight all urges to just jump around the corner and scream, "Got ya! Fess up!"

"Chris, they're going to find out. If not now then later, say, I don't know, twenty years or so…"

"Will you keep it down?" Chris hissed, sounding furious with her. "You are going to ruin everything if you don't keep quiet! I don't even know why I didn't send you back when I had the chance! Now someone's gone and sealed up the portal back and I'm stuck babysitting you-"

"You don't have to baby-sit me, Chris," the girl cried furiously. "I'm going to be eighteen years old and unless you've forgotten, I've been taking care of myself since you left!"

"Don't try and make me feel guilty, Lin, I don't need that along with everything else. What I do need, however, is for you to just take a giant chill pill and stop making me look like a mental patient."

"I think you're doing a good enough job with that already, Chris," the girl said scathingly. "They didn't look that shocked to see you walking around the room with your arms outstretched."

"Listen, Melinda, I love you, alright, you mean more to me than anyone else on the planet, you know that," Chris said. "I don't want to see you hurt and I want you to get to know them, really I do, you deserve at least that."

Phoebe couldn't believe what, or who, she was hearing. This was a side of Chris she had never seen before. This was a sensitive, caring person who seemed to genuinely care for the person he was talking to. Could he be her boyfriend maybe? Phoebe frowned and leaned in closer to hear more.

"Chris, I just want to get to know her a little bit before we go back…" she trailed off. "Is that why, Chris? Oh, my God! It all makes so much sense now!"

"What does?" Chris asked.

"Why it's taking you so long!" the girl cried. "I've been so stupid!"

"Please enlighten me as to what revelation you've come up with," Chris said sarcastically. "I'm tingling with anticipation, so hurry."

"She's not there when you get back, Chris," Melinda said softly. "You've been taking your time because you know that when and if you succeed, she isn't going to be there either way."

"She'll be there," Chris said furiously.

"How do you know that?"

"I just do!" Chris sounded furious and Melina most likely sensed it, as Phoebe did.

"I'm sorry-"

"Maybe I'm just believing that this will change things…possible everything that I've lived through. Everything we've lived through. I'm here because when we get back mom will be there waiting for us."

Phoebe nearly keeled over on the spot. She wheeled around and tried to get downstairs as quickly and soundlessly as she possibly could.

Nearly twisting her ankle, Phoebe skidded into the kitchen where Paige was trying to brew a proper potion, without much success.

"About time," she cried, shaking her head, irritated. "I think I-"

"Paige," Phoebe hissed, motioning for her to come closer. "You're never going to believe what I've just heard!"

"What? Did you find out what's got Chris so bugged?" Phoebe nodded furiously. "He's an escaped mental patient from the future."

"No," Phoebe said, shaking her head furiously. "Oh, my God, Paige, it's so much bigger than that!"

"What? What is it?" She looked impatient.

"He's a Halliwell, Paige," Phoebe said breathlessly. Paige gaped for a moment before shaking her head once, as though trying to rid herself of cobwebs.

"A…what?" she said softly, looking around the room detachedly. "He can't be…"

"His sister is up there with him!" Phoebe said excitedly, pointing up at the ceiling. "You should hear her, she fights like a Halliwell."

"This doesn't make any sense," Paige said, sitting down hard on a kitchen chair, ladle still in her hand.

"Of course it does! It makes the most sense of anything!" Phoebe said. "He came back because Wyatt is a family member. Who better to stop him?"

"Chris does have Piper's nose…" Paige said slowly. "Who's is he?"

"I don't know…" Phoebe said honestly. "He probably wouldn't tell us."

"Does he have any belongings at P3?"

"Erm…I don't know," Phoebe said, slowly cottoning on as to what Paige was suggesting. "I suppose having a snoop around wouldn't really hurt, would it?"

"No, it wouldn't," Paige said, touching Phoebe's arm and orbing out of the kitchen. When Phoebe looked around the familiar sight of P3 came into view, empty.

"Alright, his room is back here, I think," Phoebe said, walking over to the back room and pushing it open. She looked around and noticed a cot in the corner. "That must be where he sleeps…see if you can find any photos or maybe a journal."

"Do you think he keeps a journal?" Paige asked, scrunching up her nose. "He doesn't seem the type to write down his feelings to a Dear Diary."

"Right," Phoebe muttered loudly and looked around. "Hey." She strode over to a side table and sifted through it. "Look, I think I found something…"

"What is it?" Paige rushed over and looked at the wallet Phoebe was holding in her hands.

"Hah," she said triumphantly. "Christopher Perry Halliwell."

"So he is a Halliwell," Paige said, taking the license from Phoebe as she flipped through the pages of photos.

"Look at these," Phoebe said. "There's Chris…and oh," she broke off with a gasp, "this must be Melinda."

"Who?"

"Chris's sister," Phoebe said softly. "Wow, she looks just like Prue…same eyes and facial features."

"Blue eyes…" Paige said thoughtfully.

"Wild Card gene Grams used to call it," Phoebe said ruefully. "Aunt Pamela had blue eyes, but mom didn't. Grams's sister Petra had blue eyes, Grams didn't. Prue had blue eyes…none of us did."

"Hey, go back," Paige said quickly, flipping the photo page back to three girls, all smiling into the camera. "Who do you think they are?"

"Must be cousins?" Phoebe asked thoughtfully. "Can't be Piper's. She has Wyatt."

"Must be one of ours," Paige said. "Ok, this is weird. It's like peeking at your presents or something."

"Look, that one has the same nose as mom…"

"You have the same nose as mom," Paige said and Phoebe turned to her, at a loss for words.

"No," she managed finally. "That can't be…"

"Of course it is! Look at the one on the far left. She looks just like you!"

"But…but…" Phoebe said, " that can't be."

"Why not?" Paige asked reasonably.

"Well…"

"Exactly," Paige said with satisfaction. "Hey, there's another photo."

"Three kids," Phoebe said vaguely. "Must be…yours."

"Wow," Paige whispered. "This is weird, put them back. I don't even want to look at them!"

"Oh, I can tell you're going to be a great mother," Phoebe said sarcastically.

"Hey, I don't even want to know what I'm having when I'm pregnant," Paige said reasonably, "I sure don't want to know what I'm having before I even get pregnant."

"So…that means that Chris and Melinda are…"

"Piper and Leo's kids…I mean, Chris is at least Leo's son, he can orb and all. It explains all the hate and bad feelings Chris has towards Leo..."

"You're right, this is creepy."

"Should we tell Leo and Piper? Or at the very least tell Piper that two of kids from the future are currently in our attic."

"No," Phoebe said, shaking her head. "Chris was saying that it would complicate things if we knew what was going on. I think we should play dumb, at least for now. When the time is right, we'll fess up that we already know and it'll be this giant relief to have it off his chest."

"Maybe we can get him to confess before "the time is right"," Paige suggested.

"You mean _trick _him into telling us?" Phoebe said incredulously and stopped walking to stare at Paige. "Actually…"

OoOoOoOo

Back at the Manor Chris and Melinda were talking quietly in the living room, after Chris went down to make sure the coast was clear.

"Do you remember when mom used to read to us right here on this chair?" Melinda asked softly, tracing the beaded line on the edge of the chair. "We used to beg her to read us just one more story about the Charmed Ones, never knowing that it was to be what we were growing into."

"She used to resist as though the memories were too ridiculous to repeat, but I could tell she was pleased we wanted to hear about them," Chris said.

"She loved to tell us stories, no matter how much she protested…Wyatt stopped listening, didn't he?"

"You were about seven and he was eleven. I think it was when things really began changing in him. He no longer wanted to hear them. One night he told me that they were just made up stories mom told us to get us on Good Magic's side. He said that good magic didn't exist."

"Something must have really gone wrong," Melinda whispered, looking at a picture of a smiling, playful Wyatt that was sitting on the end table.

"Sometimes I wonder why I'm doing this in the first place. When I get back I'll still know what it was like with Wyatt as a brother, what does it matter whether I changed anything."

"You never know…" Melinda said suddenly. "Maybe we'll be different and you'll no longer remember what the other world was like."

"I hope so," Chris said to himself.

"Did you ever plan on telling mom who you were?"

"No," he said honestly. "I didn't think it really mattered."

"Don't you think it's weird that she'll look at you one day and remember Chris from now?"

"No, because she'll never meet me now," Chris snapped furiously.

"Oh…I forgot," Melinda said, sounding confused. "I forget sometimes."

"Dad might, if he ever bothered to show up," Chris said bitterly. "When was the last time we even saw him? One, one and a half years has it been?"

"Longer," Melinda said. "I think he stopped caring as well."

"Well, why should he have cared? Mom was dead, Wyatt was too far gone to save…he never really knew us in the first place. We all know Wyatt was his favorite. He lost his faith in us."

"Do you think if he came down more, showed more interest that Wyatt would have been a little less severe with everyone around him?"

Chris nodded and looked over at her. "But you never know, maybe he was just always like this, dad or no dad around."

Melinda sighed and looked around the room again. "I miss this place sometimes."

"I know," Chris said, looking over at her.

"Sometimes I orb in here, just to lean against the walls and feel the Halliwell magic flow through me, as though it still existed." She broke off. "Wyatt caught me once. He didn't say anything to me, just watched me for a while and when I opened my eyes he smirked at me and walked from the room without saying anything."

"You're lucky he didn't kill you," Chris said sarcastically, and looked around the room.

"I don't think he would, though," Melinda said, shaking her head. "Deep down I really don't think he would kill me. I am his only, younger sister."

"I don't know what he may or may not do, that's why I stay out of his way."

"Or you did stay out of his way," Melinda said. "He was so angry when he found out what you did. And I mean pissed."

Chris smirked.

"He started blowing stuff up and screaming that he was going to find you and kill you. And then you escaped him again…"

"What's your favorite memory of mom?" Chris asked softly. Melina frowned.

"She was brushing her hair when I was really small and the light is flowing into her room. I must have been really small because I can remember looking up at her sitting on her chair. She turned to me, smiling and I felt so safe and comforted." She looked over at Chris. "What's yours?"

"The time she caught me smoking…" Melinda snorted with laughter as the front door opened. Without being told to, she went invisible.

"Hey, Chris," Phoebe said, a weird smile on her face. For the first time since he got here, Phoebe noticed a smile on Chris's face. She must be in the room somewhere, Phoebe thought to herself, with a smile.

A/N Please read and review.


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